Through Fire and Water
by DarthRavager86
Summary: Ezra Bridger enters the bridge of the Chimaera, and finds himself face to face with Grand Admiral Thrawn. Armed only with a stolen blaster, as he left his lightsaber with Sabine Wren, Ezra fully intends to sacrifice himself to save Lothal. However, the force has different plans...


Ezra senses the stormtroopers approaching from behind, and turns to shoot them with his blaster. As he is doing so, Thrawn aims his blaster at Ezra's back and fires, only to see the blaster bolt freeze halfway to its intended target.

Thrawn looks around the bridge of the Chimaera, and sees a figure in a white hooded cloak, with their hand outstretched toward the frozen blaster bolt.

"What? It...can't be!" Ezra says as he senses the mysterious stranger, and turns to face them. The figure lowers their hood, revealing a face that Ezra thought he would never see again.

"Kanan?" Ezra asks, disbelieving what he sees. His apparently no longer dead master, now free of the scars of Malachor, looks at him with intact blue eyes.

"It's Caleb Dume now. That's the name I was born with. I won't hide from it anymore." Kanan, or Caleb says. Ezra slowly approaches Caleb, and reaches out to touch him. When he feels that Caleb is actually there, tears form in his eyes as he embraces the man. Caleb returns his embrace, and says "It's alright, Ezra. I'm here."

"How? I saw you die." Ezra says.

"What we call death is the beginning of the journey, not the end. Through the force, all things are possible. The force decided that it wasn't my time yet, and sent me back." Caleb says.

"What sorcery is this?" Thrawn asks. Caleb and Ezra separate from their embrace, and look at the grand admiral.

"Not sorcery, admiral. The power of the force. A power that you will never understand, or be able to conquer." Caleb says.

"If you indeed live, master jedi, then I shall kill you again, along with Bridger." Thrawn says, as he aims his blaster at Caleb.

"Not today, Thrawn." Caleb says, as he uses the force to crush the blaster in Thrawn's hand. Ezra force pushes Thrawn toward several purgill tentacles, and Thrawn finds himself entangled in them, unable to escape.

"Looks like Bendu was right about you." Caleb says.

Thrawn suddenly recalls the words of the powerful force user on Atollon- _I see your defeat. Like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace._

At that moment, Thrawn feels something he isn't used to. Fear.

"Come on, Ezra. It's time to go. Unless you want to stay with him?" Caleb says, pointing at Thrawn.

"How? It's too late to get to an escape pod!" Ezra says.

"We don't need an escape pod. We're jumping out the window." Caleb says.

"What? Jump out the window? I don't know about that!" Ezra says.

"It'll be alright, Ezra. Trust me. I'm still me, just a different name, and some new powers I don't fully understand yet. Now, let's go home." Caleb says.

"Alright." Ezra says. Caleb approaches one of the broken windows, followed closely by Ezra. Caleb offers his hand to Ezra, and Ezra takes it. A few seconds later, they both jump out, and fall for several meters before landing on top of the Ghost, which happens to be flying underneath the Chimaera.

On the planet below, in the control room of Lothal's imperial complex, Hera Syndulla and Sabine Wren observe as the purgill wrapped around Thrawn's star destroyers start to glow.

"When they glow like that…" Hera says.

"They're about to jump into hyperspace!" Sabine says anxiously.

"Ezra! Get out of there, right now! That's an order!" Hera says into her comlink.

"I'm okay, Hera. I'm already out. I'm on the Ghost. We're on our way down." Ezra says over the comlink.

"How did you get to the Ghost?" Sabine asks.

"I had help. You'll see." Ezra answers.

"Okay, Ezra. See you soon." Hera says.

Thrawn's fleet is suddenly pulled into hyperspace by the purgill, and Lothal is cleared of all imperial ships.

"We're all clear up here. Now get ready to blow that thing so we can go home!" Ezra says.

"Right! Chopper!" Sabine says. Chopper wheels himself to a console, and activates the thrusters for the imperial complex. The astromech heads to Sabine, and tosses her Ezra's lightsaber. Sabine activates the weapon, and slashes a window. She then finishes breaking it with a swift kick. Sabine heads outside, followed by the other rebels, and pursued by stormtroopers. Soon, the Ghost arrives, and its guns take out the troopers.

The Ghost makes its way to where the rebels are waiting, and the rebels board the ship. The Ghost flies away from the imperial complex sphere as it flies upward.

Seconds later, the rebels enter the cockpit, and are shocked to see Caleb standing next to Ezra.

"Kanan…" Hera says, holding back tears as she runs to Caleb, and embraces him. Sabine does the same. Caleb wraps his arms around both women, who are now sobbing. Ezra approaches them, and puts one hand on Caleb's shoulder, the other, on Sabine's shoulder.

"You...came back! I don't...care how, just...don't leave again, okay!" Hera manages to say.

"Yeah, I came back. I'm not going to let the rest of you have all the fun!" Caleb says, with a smile on his face. Ezra, Hera, and Sabine laugh.

"Well, this is new." Zeb says, as he approaches Caleb. Zeb suddenly wraps Caleb, Ezra, Hera, and Sabine in a group hug. Chopper approaches the group, and touches Caleb's back with one of his mechanical claws.

"Sabine, don't you have something to blow up?" Caleb asks.

"Hell yeah!" Sabine says. She slowly separates from the group hug, and wipes away her tears. She takes out a remote detonator. Caleb smiles at her.

"Go ahead. Do your thing!" Caleb says.

Sabine smiles as she presses a button on the detonator, and the imperial sphere explodes.

"We did it. They're gone." Ezra says. Sabine suddenly embraces Ezra.

"We almost lost you! Don't scare me like that again!" Sabine says, as she starts crying again. Ezra slowly returns her embrace.

"I'm sorry, Sabine. I did what I thought I had to do. I thought it was my best choice at the time. If it wasn't for Kanan coming back, I wouldn't have had a choice. I hope you can understand that." Ezra says.

"Since you came back, and Kanan came back, I'll forgive you, this time." Sabine says. She separates from Ezra, and reaches for her belt. "Here, thought you might want this back, unless you want me to hang on to it, give it a new paint job maybe?" Sabine says, as she offers Ezra his lightsaber. Ezra laughs as he accepts the lightsaber.

"Thank you, Sabine." Ezra says.

"I...hate to ruin the moment, but I don't think the Empire's just going to let us keep this planet." Rex says.

"The Empire will have other things to worry about. Lothal...will be safe." Caleb says.

Sabine looks at Ezra, and says "So, now that you got your home back, I guess this means you're staying on Lothal, while the rest of us go back to fighting."

"No. My home's right here. It was selfish of me to say that I was going to stay on Lothal. There are people on other planets who need our help. When the Empire's gone for good, maybe I'll come back. Until then, I'll stay with my family." Ezra says. Sabine takes Ezra's hand.

"Glad to hear it." Sabine says.

Caleb and Hera approach Ezra and Sabine, who are now looking out the cockpit's front window. Caleb puts his left hand on Ezra's shoulder, while wrapping his right arm around Hera. Zeb stands to Caleb's right side, with his arms crossed, while Chopper positions himself in front of Ezra. The group looks out the window as the Ghost flies over a group of citizens, celebrating their newfound freedom from the Empire.


End file.
